Have I cheated and should I own up?

[wasthischeating]

Uni paper . I’ve been struggling to the point of feeling ill with it . I haven’t told academic staff stupidly (which I should have done) .

My friend who did a very similar assignment for another uni several years ago sent me a copy of a paper she did, to give me some guidance . I agreed to look at hers which helped
Me realise I’m on the right track sort of .

I’m now having a sinking feeling this is collusion . I haven’t copied her paper (which would be useless and totally dishonest), I’ve only looked at it once but it’s there on my emails and I’m terrified I’m going to lose my degree . I haven’t changed my paper at all, I was going to hand mine in exactly as it is .

Do I contact uni and own up on Monday - or just leave it?

No and no !!

Stop worrying

Erm, no. When you were studying\revising if you'd come across it or something similar you would have used it to help you learn. Surely that is the point of reading these things. If you'd taken it and essentially rewritten it in your own words and handed that in then that would be cheating.

That’s not cheating or collusion so please don’t worry! When I was at uni my friends and I would compare our essays all the time to make sure we were on the right track. We’d never copy each other’s essay content.

That isn't collusion, it's research.

It’s not cheating at all! I’m a first year PhD student and I was freaking out about my dissertation so I looked up some published theses in similar research areas on university websites. Not only was my supervisor not bothered, she said it was a good idea as it would help me to plan my own project.

You’ve not copied anything so don’t worry.

No

You can read anything you like, there is no law against reading other people’s papers. In fact, we read ‘published’ literature all the time in the name of studying - that’s why universities have libraries
As long as you didn’t copy her work and you wrote your paper yourself then you’re fine.

No it’s not cheating. In my final year of uni you could access previous dissertations in the library. I read loads of them. As you say more as a way of knowing you are heading in the right direction not to copy the content

It's not cheating, and a better course instructor would have you more regularly looking at the work of your peers, probably in the earlier planning stages, so that you can review their work and reflect on your own.

Your university probably has a Writing Center. They will offer their services by email. If you're worried about your written assignments you should reach out so one of their tutors can work with you! They'll review and give feedback on at least one paragraph.